Hossein Derakhshan

From Wikipedia: Hossein Derakhshan (in Persian: حسين درخشان; born January 7, 1975), also known as Hoder, is an Iranian weblogger. He is credited with starting the blogging revolution in Iran and is called by many journalists as the father of Persian blogging.[2] He also helped to promote podcasting in Iran.

Eariler in August 2007, Derakhshan's Florida-base hosting company, Hosting Matters, had terminated his hosting account as a result of intimidation by Khalaji.

In November 2007, Mehdi Khalaji, a fellow at a neo-conservative think-tank called Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), filed a $2 million libel and defamation lawsuit[16] against Derakhshan, over one of his blog posts in his Persian blog, in which he criticizes Khalaji for his service to the 'enemies' of his people and humanity.

On November 1, 2008, Derakhshan was arrested at his family home in Tehran. He was allowed four calls to his family, each lasting about one minute, during November.

The arrest became known in English-speaking media during late November, starting with an article published by the anti-censorship group Global Voices Online on November 18. A mainstream media report a few days later, by the The Times, claimed that Derakhshan had been accused of spying for Israel. Amnesty International later suggested that he was likely to face accusations of "insulting religion".

On December 30, 2008, Alireza Jamshidi, the speaker of the Judicial system of Iran confirmed Derakhshan's arrest, but did not mention any Israel-related accusations. Jamshidi said that Derakhshan is in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Court and his case is in early discovery phase. Jamshidi mentioned that among Derakhshan's accusations is what he had written about the "Pure Imams".

Nineteen Iranian bloggers published a letter "categorically condemn[ing] the circumstances surrounding Derakhshan's arrest and detention and demand[ing] his immediate release". A website "Free the blogfather" was created by supporters of Derakhshan in order to campaign for his freedom. Before an earlier return to Iran in 2005, Derakhshan published recommendations of what to do if he or someone else were arrested in Iran, including requests to "spread the word", to "get the English-language media involved" and to "get the publicity translated [into Persian]" and to "keep it up".

As of late April 2009, the New York Times stated that Derakhshan remained under detention and had not been charged.

On September 28, 2010, Mashregh News reported that Hossein Derakhshan has been found guilty of “conspiring with hostile governments, disseminating anti-Islamic propaganda, disseminating anti-revolutionary propaganda, blasphemy, annd operating and managing obscene pornography websites,” and was sentenced to 19.5 years in prison.

An informed source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Hossein Derakhshan was released on December, 9th, 2010, on the unprecedented bail amount of $1.5 million. Derakhshan had requested a prison furlough after a lower court sentenced him to 19.5 years in prison in September.

Since 2010, Derakhshan has been granted at least two brief prison furloughs, but remains in Evin Prison.